On the 11th Sunday after the Pentecost, the parable of the unforgiving debtor was read in the Orthodox Church as an example of forgiveness, of the attitude of the man towards God and to his fellow beings. His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, delivered a sermon in the patriarchal chapel of “Saint Gregory the Enlightener”, explaining the spiritual meanings of this parable.

His Beatitude explained that God is forgiving, but He can also be just when we are not. “The punishments coming from God over the people are not a sign of God’s revenge, but an attempt of improving the sinful man based on God’s justice. God forgives and improves. He forgives those who sin and improves those spiritually indifferent”, explained the Patriarch of Romania in “Lumina” newspaper.

The Primate of our Church has also explained that whenever we forgive we must do it from the bottom of our heart, namely when we forgive somebody’s mistakes, we must also forget them. But if we want to forgive from the bottom of our heart we must have a merciful heart, and this one can be acquired only through the presence of the grace of the Merciful God in the man’s soul, explained His Beatitude. The forgiveness that God gives us is so big that we could never pay for it. But if God were just towards us whenever we mistake, we could never reach the Kingdom of Heaven. “The gift of life, of the immortality of the soul and of man’s call to eternal life is so big that we can never pay for it. If God did not forgive the humans’ sins, no human would ever be saved. If God forgives the humans’ sins, He wants those whose sins were forgiven to be merciful and forgiving too”, explained His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.

The family crisis generated by the lack of forgiveness

The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church has also explained the relationship between the issues of the present society and forgiveness. “We see that lots of families break up today, namely a husband divorces his wife or a wife divorces her husband because there is no forgiveness. The relationship between parents and children, between children and parents, among relatives, neighbours, or colleagues, worsens because there is no forgiveness. Whenever the desire of revenge exceeds forgiveness, the life of a family or of a community turns into hell, but we can limit evil through forgiveness. We annihilate hate and wish to revenge, and so, life becomes a blessing. The people who hate and always try to punish one another do not live a quiet life, their hearts are full of venom, of evil, and so, their spiritual and physical good health is affected. The consequences of forgiveness are positive. Forgiveness brings about blessing in the human life and in the human relationship too, while lack of forgiveness worsens these relations”, emphasised His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.